Spartan Profiles: Bernardo Lopez
HELPING RURAL MEXICO
A partnership between MSU and Mexico’s Universidad Autonoma Chapingo (UACh) was announced in June by the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is funding an effort to promote sustainable livelihood in poor, rural areas of Mexico under USAID’s TIES (Training, Internships, Exchanges and Scholarships) program. Tapped to direct this program in Mexico is Bernardo Lopez, Ph.D. ’07, who is an alumnus of both MSU and UACh.
“It’s appropriate for both schools to form this partnership because they are similar,” says Lopez, a native of Cuernavaca, not far from Texcoco, the home of UACh. “Chapingo was founded in 1854, it was founded as an ag school, and it has the same goals as MSU—to help people live better.” Bernardo was talked into doing his doctoral program in East Lansing by an MSU alumnus who was teaching at UACh.
“He told me that if I went to MSU, many opportunities would open for me,” recounts Bernardo. “He was right. At MSU, I had opportunities to work with Hispanic farmers, to work with people in extension, and to teach math for high school equivalent courses for migrant workers.”
Bernardo says he has had great mentors at MSU—including Murari Suvedi, his thesis advisor. “He is very experienced in international activities related to agriculture and extension education,” he says. “I used many of his ideas in my proposals.”
He also touts Luis Garcia, director of MSU’s HEP (High School Equivalency Program), CAMP (College Assistance Migrant Program) and U.S.-Mexico TIES. “He is an excellent mentor,” notes Bernardo, who plans to further cultural understanding of Mexico by extension specialists in the Midwest. He believes that his work in Mexico will help keep Mexicans home, a topic of considerable political debate these days.
“The main responsibility to help them (illegal migrants) is in Mexico, not the U.S.,” he says. “We need to create more job opportunities for people in rural Mexico. I feel bad when I see people come to the U.S. under terrible conditions because they don’t have an opportunity in Mexico. I hope we can help and do something about this.”